Senator Tommy Tuberville, last seen around these parts wondering how it is that coaches make a "ridiculous" amount of money these days, on Tuesday introduced a bill that would redefine eligibility standards and severely limit transfer portal activity.
Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama and the former head coach at four Power 4 schools, unveiled the Student Athlete Act of 2026, which would limit athletes to five consecutive years of competition once their eligibility clock began, and roll back the transfer portal to one free transfer, requiring athletes to serve a year-in-residence for their second or third transfer. The NCAA had begun denying the "overwhelming majority" of second-time transfer waivers in 2023 until a collection of state attorneys general banded together to argue this was an illegal restriction of trade. That effort succeeded, leading to today's unrestricted transfer environment.
The Powers That Be have long favored a 5-in-5 eligibility model, but feared the inevitable backlash of lawsuits brought by players denied their opportunity at a fifth season. In January, the AFCA proposed expanding the participation limit in football from four games to nine as a work-around toward a 5-in-5 model without formally approving a fifth year.
“Transferring every year interrupts a student’s education and is bad for team morale,” Tuberville said Tuesday, “That’s why I’m introducing a bill that would allow student-athletes to transfer 1 time without penalty, no questions asked. After that if you choose to transfer, you sit out a year. It’s simple."
Of course, "simple" and "Congress" mix like oil and ice cream.
This is not Tuberville's first bite at this apple. He partnered with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to author the PASS Act in 2023, a bill that went nowhere. And the Student Athlete Act's simplicity may work against it. Tuberville's colleagues in Congress thus far have favored working towards an all-in-one bill that would tackle an antitrust exemption and athletes' employment status rather than spend their time on a relatively small-potatoes issue like eligibility.
Most of the press Tuberville has done on the bill has centered upon the portal, but eligibility is just as big a concern. Currently, NCAA rules give athletes five years to play four. But five years has become more of a suggestion than a rule as careers routinely stretch to six, seven years and beyond. Would the 5-in-5 rule be a hard lid with no exceptions, or would it simply be another opportunity for athletes to sue in the event their road inevitably gets bumpy along the way?
Also complicating the Student Athlete Act's prospects, Tuberville is running for governor of Alabama in an election set for November.